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Big engine, small car: It's a classic recipe that's produced some of the coolest cars in history. Yet nowadays it's all about downsizing, with the next M3 returning to a six-cylinder after its foray into V8 muscle.
And while big motors are fun, who would deny that when BMW decided to give "M" aficionados a 1 Series deserving of the tricolor badge, a look under the hood at its N54 3.0L straight-six and pair of turbos confirmed it was just about the perfect combination for the 1 Series M Coupe. After all, 335bhp and 332 lb-ft in the small coupe bodyshell was sufficient to satisfy even the most ardent enthusiast.
However, tuners often like to pick up the baton and run from the point where car manufacturers stop. And where most companies would begin by massaging the ECU and increasing the boost, German tuner G-Power chose to do things differently. Very differently indeed.
For their interpretation of the BMW 1M, the straight-six biturbo was junked in favor of the S65 4.0L V8 from the E9X M3. And while even this would be enough for most people, G-Power fitted an ASA T1-523 supercharger for good measure.
With the power up to 600hp, this is the automotive equivalent of strapping a missile to its back and blasting into outer space.
G-Power's new supercar was appropriately named the G1 V8 Hurricane RS and we were granted an audience with the very first example. Since it was highly bespoke, the exact price was hard to pin down but don't budget for less than $200k if you'd like to own something like this.
Being handed the keys to such a powerful and expensive supercar was rather daunting, but opportunities like this don't come every day...
We searched for the perfect roads to take advantage of what the Hurricane had to offer, and it didn't take long to find a quiet stretch of pavement. It was here that we examined the effect of stuffing a supercharged V8 under the hood of the 1 Series Coupe.
We probably don't need to confirm that it's fast. 600hp at 7800rpm and 430 lb-ft at 3900rpm in a 3500 lb two-door was always a recipe for straight-line fireworks; but this was just the stepping off point - G-Powers has a close relationship with supercharger manufacturer ASA, allowing for the tantalizing possibility of future evolutions with even more power...
Married to the seven-speed dual-clutch DCT transmission, the Frankenstein 1M appears to compress time and distance like no other. You can melt the tires all day long if you like, but hook everything up, find the grip, and the acceleration is utterly brutal.
Wheelspin is easily provoked with the traction control turned off, but its traction is actually quite good, once it's been discovered. As a result, the supercharged V8 does most damage once the rear wheels have full purchase on the tarmac: at around 40mph in the dry. If the road is wet, leave the Hurricane in the garage!
Supercharging has become a hallmark of G-Power. And where the stock 1M delivered its torque in a wave of low-revs thrust, the V8 RS builds power in a linear fashion. So the faster the engine spins, the more power you get. As a result, the characteristic high-RPM lunge for the redline made by the M3's S65 V8 is present and correct, but ramped up about 50%. And behind the wheel of a 1 Series, it's both thrilling and faintly absurd.
We weren't able to record performance figures but the tuner claims 0-62mph in 4.4sec, 0-125mph under 12.7sec and a top speed of 205mph. In fact, G-Power has a reputation for demonstrating top speed publicly (search G-Power on YouTube) so they should soon be able to verify the numbers.
Supercharging pays dividends in other areas, too. The smooth, linear power delivery, for example, compares favorably to the thump of torque typical of turbocharged engines. It also makes the BMW easier to drive up to and beyond the limit of its grip. And once at the limit, the G1 RS was very easy to balance on the throttle.
Of course, 600hp demands respect, but it was simple to meter the power, reaching the point where the rear wheels were rotating a little faster than the road speed. The glorious result was a car that could be balanced on the throttle all day long. It was also reassuring to find a grippy and precise front-end to rely on. And although the steering wasn't the last word in road feel, every element of the 1M's fantastic chassis balance could be exploited.
Inevitably, the Hurricane is a drift champion. Sharper body control, thanks to its tailored KW suspension, played its part, as well as the DCT transmission that allowed the driver to focus on braking and turn-in. Fortunately, the huge Mov'It brakes were more than a match for the outrageous performance, with the pedal remaining firm no matter how hard we drove.
In addition to its ASA blower, the V8 engine received a cast aluminum air box with eight induction pipes to balance throttle response. It also got a large front-mounted water-to-air intercooler plus a stainless steel exhaust system that provides a vicious bark to the V8 rumble.
The chassis sports the aforementioned KW Clubsport coilovers and Mov'It brakes that utilize six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers with 396mm carbon-ceramic rotors all round. These fit under 20x9" front and x10" rear G-Power Silverstone Diamond wheels with 255/30 and 295/25 Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires, respectively.
The brakes are said to be 50% lighter than the stock parts, and G-Power added to the savings with a carbon hood and trunk - the hood possessing an M3-style power bulge and vents.
Despite being a ripped musclecar, the G1 RS is remarkably civilized inside. Rather than the customary stripped-out, roll-caged track refugee, the cabin received a full retrim in white leather with brown alcantara highlights.
It created a stunning environment to cosset you from the commotion outside. Even the exhaust was quiet when unprovoked, and the DCT allowed effortless paddle-shifts. Naturally, you could specify any exterior or interior color combination, but this exquisite combination seemed very calming.
When the car was conceived, the brief was to create the most extreme 1 Series Coupe possible, while retaining daily usability. And with the G1 V8 Hurricane RS, G-Power hit the nail on the head. So while 600bhp in a compact coupe might have been a nightmare a few years ago, lurching at low speed, burning through clutches and with an overheated cabins, what we have here is a 1M able to outrun most supercars, deliver huge grins and transport you 500 miles without stress. It's another awesome display of the tuner's art and became an instant classic as soon as the wheels first turned.
Tech Spec
2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe - G-Power G1 V8 Hurricane RS
Engine 4.0L S65 V8 with ASA T1-523 supercharger, cast aluminum air box, individual induction pipe, water-to-air front-mount intercooler, stainless steel exhaust
Drivetrain seven-speed M-DCT dual-clutch transmission
Brakes Mov'It six-piston calipers f, four-piston r, 396mm carbon-ceramic rotors
Suspension KW Clubsport coilovers
Wheels & Tires 20x9" f, 20x10" r G-Power Silverstone Diamond wheels, 255/30 R20 f, 295/25 R20 r Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires
Exterior G-Power carbon fiber hood and trunk
Interior white leather, brown alcantara upholstery


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Plenty of Matty goodness coming our way this year from SDCC...
For a great selection of film, comic and TV action figures and collectibles, check out BigBadToyStore.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, PastGenerationToys.com, MonkeyDepot.com, and Sekaido.com.
For a great selection of film, TV and pop culture t-shirts and apparel, check out TShirtGurus.com and 80sTees.com.
Mattel officially revealed their San Diego Comic-Con 2010 MOTUC and DC Exclusives during G4's latest episode of Attack of the Show last night. The first half of a 2 part segment was filmed on location at the Mattel headquarters and revealed the following:
- Exclusive MOTUC Mo-Larr and Skeletor 2-pack (final packaging)
- Exclusive MOTUC Orko with Prince Adam 2-pack (SDCC version will feature a vanishing Orko and secret reveal SDCC logo on spell book when placed in warm water)
- DC Infinite Heroes Brave and the Bold Vs. Starro gift set
- DC Universe Classics Plastic Man (SDCC Version will feature additional Plastic Man as a suitcase accesory)
For more details on these awesome exclusives you can check out the clip HERE


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Botox makes losers
In reference to the article on Botox parties [Hook Ink, April 3: "Shooting up: Building biz at Botox parties"] (http://www.readthehook.com/93275/newsbiz-shooting-building-biz-botox-par...), it is very sad that people do not feel that they can gracefully grow older– a fact of life that no one can escape and therefore no one should be ashamed of.
Far worse, these folks may, at some future time, pay a severe price for their vanity: sagging muscles that have atrophied from lack of use. Botox has been embraced without regard to what its ultimate physical effect is likely to be in the long run upon those paralyzed facial muscles.
Muscles are meant to be used, so people really should not try to fool Mother Nature. She usually wins in the end.
Marlene A. Condon


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Preakness art contest grand prize goes to youngest winner ever
Cross Country's Lashe Speight wins grand prize
The 13th annual Preakness Portraits Youth Art Contest awarded its grand prize to the youngest student ever to win the contest.
Lashé Speight, a sixth-grade student at Cross Country Elementary/Middle School in northeast Baltimore, was selected as the grand prize winner out of 122 entries.
The grand prize winner receives box seating for four to the Preakness, framed artwork and a $250 gift certificate.
The contest invited students from eight Baltimore-area schools to submit artwork depicting the significance of the Preakness to Maryland history.
Third-grade student Nicholas Miller won "The Junior Jewel" award for the best artwork submitted by students in kingergarden through the fourth grade. He also is a student at Cross Country.
Local artist Mark Luce, Baltimore City Mayor's Office Neighborhoods liaison Betsy Gardner, retired Baltimore City art teacher Heidi Schloss and representatives from the Maryland Jockey Club judged the entries last week.
In addition to Cross Country, participating schools included Arlington, Dickey Hill, Fallstaff, Francis Scott Key, Hampden, and Mount Washington elementary/middle schools, and Western High School.
All the artwork will be displayed on first-floor grandstand at Pimlico Race Course from May 1 through Preakness Day, May 19.


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ONE DAY IN November 2006, Jay Porter, the owner of a small restaurant in San Diego called the Linkery, scheduled a staff meeting. Less than two years old, the casual farm-to-table restaurant in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of North Park had already won praise from national magazines. Nonetheless, Porter was troubled. The staff was squabbling, mainly over money: waiters were angling for better shifts and tables, and the kitchen workers didn't feel they were getting a fair share of the profits. The bickering was typical of the restaurant business, but Porter, who is 38, had no previous industry experience. He had been a computer consultant, one who made good money but derived few other satisfactions from his job.
When he opened the Linkery, Porter said, he hoped his employees would become as emotionally invested in the venture as he was, sharing a sense of purpose and joy in their work. Now that vision seemed hopelessly naïve. "Here I was, winging it as an owner, running into these frustrations, which all boiled down to money," Porter told me this summer. "I felt there had to be a better way." After much thought, Porter arrived at a possible solution, which he presented to his staff on that November afternoon. "How do you feel about eliminating tipping?" he asked them.
Porter's question strikes at the very heart of the American dining experience. Each year, according to the economist Ofer Azar, diners hand over some $42 billion in tips at the nation's full-service restaurants, which employ 2.6 million waiters, most of whom rely on tips for the bulk of their incomes. While anxieties surrounding tipping abound Is 15 percent enough? 20? And who is this "captain" on the bill? studies show that Americans overwhelmingly prefer this discretionary system to a set service charge, which is common in Europe and many other parts of the world. Indeed, at the few restaurants in this country that have adopted a fixed gratuity, diners often leave additional tips.
Tipping, its defenders say, improves service by rewarding good waiters and punishing bad ones. But that's not what Porter saw when he looked out on his dining floor. In his brief experience, working for tips encouraged selfishness rather than teamwork. Moreover, good service was not always rewarded with a big tip, nor bad service with a poor one. "No other profession works like this," Porter told me, "and I don't see why the restaurant business should either." At his restaurant, Porter and his staff agreed, it no longer would. The Linkery would be more than just a restaurant; it would become perhaps the nation's only anti-tipping laboratory.
THERE WAS A time, not so long ago in this country, when the Linkery's no-tipping policy would not have stood out. Tipping was imported from Europe, and when it arrived in America, it met with impassioned and organized opposition. While the precise origin of tipping is uncertain, it is commonly traced to Tudor England, according to "Tipping," Kerry Segrave's history of the custom. By the 17th century, it was expected that overnight guests to private homes would provide sums of money, known as vails, to the host's servants. Soon after, customers began tipping in London coffeehouses and other commercial establishments. One frequented by Samuel Johnson had a bowl printed with the words "To Insure Promptitude," and some speculate that "tip" is an acronym for this phrase.
Tipping began as an aristocratic practice, a sprinkle of change for social inferiors, and it quickly spread among the upper classes of Europe. Yet even at its outset, tipping engendered feelings of anxiety and resentment. In the mid-1800s, after leaving the Bell Inn of Gloucester, the Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle complained: "The dirty scrub of a waiter grumbled about his allowance, which I reckoned liberal. I added sixpence to it, and [he] produced a bow which I was near rewarding with a kick."
After the Civil War, wealthy Americans began traveling to Europe in significant numbers, and they brought the tip home with them to demonstrate their worldliness. But the United States, unlike Europe, had no aristocratic tradition, and as tipping spread like "evil insects and weeds," The New York Times claimed in 1897 many thought it was antithetical to American democratic ideals. "Tipping, and the aristocratic idea it exemplifies, is what we left Europe to escape," William Scott wrote in his 1916 anti-tipping screed, "The Itching Palm." One periodical of the same era deplored tipping for creating a class of workers who relied on "fawning for favors."
Opposition to tipping was not limited to the media. In 1904, the Anti-Tipping Society of America sprang up in Georgia, and its 100,000 members signed pledges not to tip anyone for a year. Leagues of traveling salesmen opposed the tip, as did most labor unions. In 1909, Washington became the first of six states to pass an anti-tipping law. But tipping persisted. The new laws rarely were enforced, and when they were, they did not hold up in court. By 1926, every anti-tipping law had been repealed.
Ultimately, even those who in principle opposed the practice found themselves unable to stiff their servers. Samuel Gompers, who was president of the American Federation of Labor and a leading figure of the anti-tipping movement, admitted that he "followed the usual custom of giving tips."
Meanwhile, Europe was rethinking its devotion to the custom. The 1943 Catering Wages Act in Britain established a minimum wage for service employees that helped decrease their reliance on tips. And in 1955, France passed a law requiring its restaurants to add a service charge ("service compris") to each bill, a practice that has become the norm for most of the continent. By then, the anti-tipping movement had all but vanished in the United States. Its last great champion, the social scientist Leo Crespi, died in July of this year. Sixty years earlier, Crespi published a scholarly study of tipping and called for the formation of a National Anti-Tipping League of diners. But the call went unanswered even by Crespi, who never dined out.
WORD OF THE Linkery's anti-tipping policy quickly spread through the local restaurant community. Ken Cassinelli, who owns a nearby Italian restaurant, was appalled. It had taken him 30 years of waiting on tables to set aside enough money to open Apertivo. Tips built his restaurant. "The Linkery is a big sham," he told me. "All Porter is doing is taking money away from his waiters."
Notwithstanding the vitriol, Cassinelli may have a point.
Typically, waiters receive an hourly wage as little as $2.13 in some states, though California law mandates at least $8 plus tips, some of which they may pass on, or "tip out," to their support staff. The laws of California and several other states prohibit redirecting tips to restaurant workers who traditionally don't receive them owners, managers and members of the kitchen staff. (Earlier this year, a California judge ordered Starbucks to pay its baristas $105 million for tips the company diverted to supervisors.) But a service charge is free of such constraints. It's also fully taxed, while waiters, on average, fail to report what the I.R.S. says is at least 40 percent of their tips.
Porter considered raising the prices of each item on the menu and simply increasing the wages of his employees. But that would have penalized the restaurant's many takeout diners. Also, he figured many potential diners would look at the prices and not factoring in what they spend on tips compare them unfavorably with those of his competitors. So Porter instead proposed a service fee of 18 percent, to be pooled and split roughly 3 to 1 between the restaurant's front of the house and its kitchen. In his pitch to his staff, he employed the same arguments Alice Waters had nearly two decades before. The owner of arguably the nation's most celebrated restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley Waters wrote her board: "At our restaurant the quality of the food and the skill and taste of the cooks are at least as central to our success as the quality of the service. Unfortunately, traditional tipping has created great disparities in earning between the serving staff and the cooking and support staff." By introducing a service charge currently 17 percent Waters was able to increase income to the kitchen.
A few other high-end restaurants have followed Waters's example, including Charlie Trotter's in Chicago, the French Laundry in Napa Valley and Per Se in Manhattan (the latter two are owned by Thomas Keller). None of these restaurants, however, including Waters's, forbid additional tips. "Some people still tip, and the waiters get to keep that money," said Mike Kossa-Rienzi, general manager of Chez Panisse.
But Porter, like the anti-tippers of yore, was persuaded tipping itself was pernicious. "If you have a fixed gratuity, but people are still tipping, then you're back to Square 1 in terms of the money dynamic," he says.
If he could, he would have raised everyone's wages, but there wasn't enough revenue. The restaurant was already paying 65 percent of its employees' health-insurance premiums, and Porter was working on a scheme to give long-term employees ownership stakes in the business. Still, he worried that his staff might not be receptive to his proposal. Michael McGuan, Porter's general manager, expected at least half of the restaurant's eight servers to quit. But only one did, and Porter has had little trouble hiring additional waiters. Cassinelli says that's because most of them, like their boss, have little restaurant experience. While that's true of a few of Porter's hires, most of the Linkery's servers have waited on tables for years. They have simply drawn different lessons from their experiences.
Cassinelli prided himself on earning big tips. "I could always upsell my tables' liquor and desserts," he said, using the industry term for swaying diners to order more than they normally would, driving up the bill and hence the tip. There are other tricks at waiters' disposal. Studies demonstrate that waiters can increase their tips by introducing themselves by name, squatting alongside tables, touching diners and drawing smiley faces on the backs of checks. While Cassinelli isn't necessarily an advocate of such ploys, he says that waiters only excel at their jobs when they have the proper economic incentives.
But Chelsea Boyd told me that eliminating tipping had made her work as a waiter at the Linkery more meaningful than any other restaurant job she has had in the previous 10 years. "For the first time, I get to concentrate on the job, and I'm looking at the guests without seeing dollar signs or worried about what anyone else is making," she says. Under the old system, waiters earned between $25 and $35 an hour, much of which was untaxed. "Now, waiters make about $25 an hour, which is fully taxed," Boyd says.
Renee Lorion, a former waitress at the Linkery who now works in publishing in New York, liked the new anti-tipping policy too. "As servers, we all took a pay cut, but we knew it was for the general health of the restaurant," she told me. "What made it work is that Jay was very transparent about the restaurant's finances."
Obviously, the kitchen appreciates the new policy. "Earning three or four extra bucks an hour makes a difference," Matthew Somerville, a cook, says. "In most restaurants, there's not a close relationship between the front and the kitchen. But here you don't have that tension, where waiters are trying to accommodate customers' special requests, while the cooks doing the extra work don't see any of the tips."
Today, Porter's employees appear almost as fervent in their opposition to tipping as their boss. But winning over his staff was only half the battle.
WHEN I CANVASSED restaurant owners across the country, most said that customer opposition precludes any significant move away from tipping. "I like the idea of a service charge, and I've thought about having one," says Hakan Swahn, the owner of Aquavit, a restaurant in New York that serves Scandinavian cuisine and has branches in Stockholm and Tokyo. Because tipping is negligible in Sweden and frowned upon in Japan, at these outposts the cost of service is factored into the bill. But that's not possible at his Manhattan flagship, Swahn told me. "The customers would protest."
Eighty percent of Americans say they prefer tipping to paying a service fee, according to Zagat Survey. They do so, Leo Crespi's surveys first demonstrated, primarily because they believe tipping provides an incentive for good service. But there is little correlation, in fact less than 2 percent, according to Michael Lynn, a Cornell professor of consumer behavior and marketing.
Economists have struggled to explain tipping. Why tip at all, since the bill is presented at the end of a meal and can't retroactively improve service? And certainly there's no reason to tip at a restaurant you will never revisit. "Using a rational and selfish agent to explain tipping, one reaches the conclusion that the agent should never tip if he does not intend to visit the establishment again," Ofer Azar, the economist, writes. "Yet this prediction is sharply violated in practice: most people tip even when they do not intend to ever come back."
The single most important factor in determining the amount of a tip is the size of the bill. Diners generally tip the same percentage no matter the quality of the service and no matter the setting. They do so, Lynn says, largely because it's expected and diners fear social disapproval. "It is embarrassing to have another person wait on you," the psychologist Ernest Dichter told a magazine reporter in 1960. "The need to pay, psychologically, for the guilt involved in the unequal relationship is so strong that very few are able to ignore it." Ego needs also play a part, especially when it comes to overtipping, according to the Israeli social psychologist Boas Shamir.
These psychological factors also go a long way in explaining the steady rise of the average tip in the United States from 10 percent in the early 20th century to 18.9 percent today, with little regional variation. "To overtip is to appear an ass: to undertip is to appear an even greater ass," Benjamin Franklin reportedly noted during his stint in Paris, and his quandary continues to vex American diners.
But not at the Linkery. Porter and his staff have found that most diners accept the no-tipping policy, which is explained on the restaurant's Web site and menu as well as upon the presentation of the check. This doesn't surprise Lynn, who says he believes consumer preferences for tipping are not as strong as Zagat Survey suggests. In a less-cited 1987 Gallup telephone survey, only 34 percent of American respondents said a 15-to-18 percent service charge was unreasonable. In Lynn's own 2004 Internet survey, 44 percent of American respondents said they would prefer to have waiters paid higher wages instead of tips, while only 22 percent disagreed. "Given that consumers' preferences appear to be weak and are unlikely to have strong effects on patronage behavior, they need not dictate tipping policies," Lynn concludes.
That has already proved true at the antipodes of American dining the fast-food restaurant and the private club where tipping is not usually allowed. And with few objections, many full-service restaurants include service charges for groups of six or more diners. They do so because tip size is inversely proportional to the number of diners. One 1973 study at an Ohio restaurant revealed that individual diners tipped 19 percent on average, while groups of six left 13.5 percent. "[T]o the extent that many people contribute to a check, the responsibility of each to the waiter may be psychologically divided among the people present," the researchers concluded.
Despite such precedents, every so often diners at the Linkery take offense. "I'll go over to the table and ask if there is a problem with the service," McGuan, the general manager, says. "If there is, then I offer to remove the service charge. Almost always, the customers' issue isn't about the service but about not being able to handle their loss of control."
Porter says that he doesn't mind losing these diners. But most restaurant owners are not as nonchalant. Last June, after the Linkery moved, its old space was taken over by the Sea Rocket Bistro, which focuses on local sustainable seafood. Management thought it would be a good idea to retain Porter's no-tipping policy, since the restaurant was courting the same customers. But that proved difficult. "It became a strain to explain the policy to first-time customers," Elena Rivellino, the Bistro's general manager, says. "We had some people complain that an 18 percent gratuity was too high, and others said they'd like to tip more."
In his one concession to big tippers, Porter offers them the option of donating money to charity. The Linkery's charity of the month is printed on the menu, and in two years more than $10,000 has been raised for various causes. "But it's funny what usually happens when a diner asks why they can't tip more," McGuan says. "We tell them we're comfortable with what we charge for service, and they're free to donate to our charity of the month. Most don't."
Rivellino said that as a new restaurant struggling to fill its tables, the Sea Rocket Bistro couldn't afford to turn down additional revenue, especially if doing so might offend diners. The restaurant dropped its service charge in a matter of weeks.
OVER DINNER ONE night, Porter told me that he didn't expect his war against tipping to spread beyond his restaurant. "You might be able to get rid of tipping if you raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour, but that's not going to happen anytime soon," he said. We were sitting in the back garden of one of Porter's favorite San Diego restaurants, Starlite, and I found myself nodding in agreement. Tipping had bested greater foes than Porter.
And yet Porter never tires of defending his position. "At the end of a nice meal, the last thing anyone wants to do is think about math and social mores," he said. Again, I nodded. But at dinner's end, when the waiter returned with my credit card, I did some quick mental arithmetic and left 20 percent.


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As I work with our clients on their link building projects, I am often testing out new tools to make the process more efficient. After meeting with Lee at PubCon South in March, Jeremy Bencken – one of the founders of BuzzStream – followed up with Lee for the opportunity to demo and test out their link building tool – BuzzStream for Link Building. Lee requested that I take a look at this tool, and I was glad for the opportunity.
For many webmasters, managing link building campaigns can seem pretty daunting. Identifying a link building strategy is one key to success. Another is ensuring link building efficiency and follow up. Identifying processes and tools to help increase this efficiency can greatly increase the amount and value of links you achieve.


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Veteran Corner Addresses the DBs at Ralph Wilson Stadium
Senior Reporter Eric Allen and Team Reporter Ethan Greenberg Break Down the Second Joint Practice with the Redskins
Senior Reporter Eric Allen and Team Reporter Ethan Greenberg Break Down the First Day On the Road in Richmond
Team Reporters Eric Allen and Ethan Greenberg Preview the Team's Trip to Practice with the Redskins. Presented by Toyota
Go All Access Leading Up to the Week 15 Matchup Against the Broncos
Gameday in Tampa with the Jets. Presented by Toyota.
Go All Access with the Jets on Their Trip to South Florida. Presented by Toyota
All Access as the Jets Arrive for the Week 5 Matchup Against the Browns. Presented by Toyota
Take an Inside Look at the Trip to Oakland-Alameda Coliseum. Presented by Toyota.
Watch as the Green & White Head to Pittsburgh for a Week 5 Battle with the Steelers
Watch as the Green & White Head to the Mid West for a Week 3 Battle with the Chiefs
Green & White Set to Meet the Bills on Thursday Night Football
Green & White Close Out the Preseason Thursday Night
Green & White Take First Road Trip of 2016
Green and White Take the Short Trip to Western, NY
Jets HC: 'A Hell of a Win'
Behind the Scenes Footage as Team Prepares to Depart
After a Thrilling OT Win, Jets HC Delivers the Game Ball to Owner Woody Johnson
Green & White Head to Locker Room Prior to 1:00 PM Kickoff
Jets CB: "Let's Get Back to Shining"
Todd Bowles' Team Seeks Third Road Victory of Season
Green and White Enter Hostile Territory for AFC Clash
Watch as Players Board the Plane
'We Came Out Ready to Play...Penalties Prevented Us from Blowing Them Out'
Green & White Set to Open Divisional Play


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Washington, D.C. -- Following a recent suggestion in Congress that the government should install video cameras in US slaughterhouses to ensure the humane and safe treatment of animals killed for human consumption, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Humane Farming Association (HFA) today call on legislators to reject any attempt by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use cameras in lieu of inspectors.
Recent undercover video footage obtained by an investigator from an animal protection organization revealed abhorrent acts of cruelty to livestock at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Company in Chino, Calif. The footage showed downer cows being tortured prior to slaughter, raising both ethical and food safety issues.
For more than a decade, animal advocates have presented detailed reports and graphic video documentation from a number of slaughter facilities across the country to demonstrate this widespread problem. In the wake of the Hallmark case, which led to the biggest beef recall in US history, the USDA is now considering the installation of video cameras as a deterrent.
"Documentation has been obtained on videotape at slaughter plants because animal advocates were there in person recording what they saw. These people were able to move about the plants and rotate the cameras to catch the plant workers engaged in illegal activities," said AWI President Cathy Liss. "Animals must be watched from the time the truck arrives and animals are unloaded, through the stunning and slaughter process, until the last animal on the vehicle is killed. Under USDA's proposal, where will the cameras be positioned and who is going to watch all the footage?"
"Government-installed video cameras aren't the answer," said Gary Dahl, Colorado representative for the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals. "The law was specifically crafted to allow an inspector who is present and observes violations of the Humane Slaughter Act to stop the slaughter line on the spot. How on earth can this happen with a video camera?"
From 2001 forward, Congress has provided millions of additional funds to the USDA for humane slaughter enforcement. Additional monies were intended for the USDA to hire new in-plant employees to work full-time on Humane Slaughter Act enforcement only, but to date, none have been hired. When the Government Accountability Office issued a report in 2004 citing widespread animal welfare issues under the USDA's watch, the report was ignored by the agency.
"Using cameras to give meat packers a 'Good Slaughter Housekeeping Seal of Approval' is just another publicity stunt by the USDA," said Gail Eisnitz, an HFA senior investigator whose acclaimed 1997 book Slaughterhouse exposed a myriad of problems behind the closed doors of the US slaughter industry.
AWI and HFA are concerned with the lack of conviction to enforcement shown by the USDA; the agency must hire inspectors to work in plants full-time with the sole responsibility of enforcing the regulations for humane handling, stunning and slaughter of animals as mandated by the Humane Slaughter Act.
Media Contacts:
Cathy Liss, AWI, (202) 446-2121
Gail Eisnitz, Humane Farming Association, (828) 299-1246
Since its founding in 1951, the Animal Welfare Institute has lead efforts to foster the humane treatment of animals raised for food in the United States, including involvement in the passage of the original 1958 Humane Slaughter Act.AWI has fought the spread of factory farms for decades, and continues to improve the conditions of animals on farms with its Animal Welfare Approved standards. For more information, please visit www.awionline.org.
Founded in 1985 and now over 200,000 members strong, HFA has gained national recognition and respect through its hard work and its highly-visible and successful campaigns. The goals of HFA are to protect farm animals from cruelty; to protect the public from the dangerous misuse of antibiotics, hormones and other chemicals used on factory farms; and to protect the environment from the impacts of industrialized animal factories. Learn more at www.hfa.org.


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Naveen Honda Signs Austin Burns
Torrance, CA; Powered by Naveen is pleased to announce the development of their supercross race team and the debut of Austin Burns to the 2013 west coast supercross lites series. Team manager, Naveen Dassanayake stated, "We are excited to have amateur standout Austin Burns as the 250 west coast lites rider. We are looking forward to working with such a dedicated, enthusiastic, young man as we expand our racing efforts to the pro ranks."
"I am very excited and thankful for this opportunity", Burns says. "With the knowledge and experience that Naveen brings to the table, I think that this team is going to be a great fit for me. As a rookie I think it is going to be the best opportunity I have to go out there and show everyone what I am capable of."
Burns will make his supercross debut on a Powered By Naveen Honda CRF 250R on January 5, 2013 in Anaheim, CA for round one of the Monster Energy West Coast Supercross Lites Championship.
About Powered By Naveen:
Powered by Naveen is one of the leading engine builders in the country specializing in Honda CRF engines. Recently relocated to Torrance, California, Powered by Naveen is working with industry leading performance products manufacturers to provide you with the very best Honda performance engines and engine components.
Team Sponsors:
Powered By Naveen, FMF, Honda Racing, Fly Racing, Pro Taper, Etnies Shoes, Subway, Schehr Management, Factory Connection, Dunlop, VP Fuel, Maxima, Hinson, Arnette, Matrix, Atlas Brace, Burns Pest Elimination, Dubya Wheels, CRF Stuff, Freegun, Twin Air, Moto-Tassinari, Lightspeed and Met-tec.


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Proprietors of supported residential facilities must ensure that the premises is licensed. The manager of the facility must also be approved by the Council. A supported residential facility is a premise at which residential accommodation and personal care services are provided (other than to immediate family members). Examples include rest homes, boarding houses, hostels and retirement villages which provide personal care services, such as assistance with personal hygiene, nursing care, mobility assistance, medication management, rehabilitation or management of personal finances.
A licence defines the need to obtain recognition / certification and registration to undertake a certain business activity.
Generally annual - maximum two years.
Refer to your local Council
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Campbelltown City Council


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139a/140 North King Street, Dublin 7, Ireland
Retail Enquiries: firstname.lastname@example.com | Wholesale Enquiries: email@example.com
Tel: 00353 1 8725208/ 8733935 | Fax: 00353 1 8733299
We would like to thank each and everyone of you for your continued support and understanding over the past few months.
As of 20 July 2020, it is now mandatory that face coverings are worn in all retail shops. We kindly ask our customers to respect this rule and wear a face mask or visor upon entering our shop to ensure the safety of our team and other customers.
Thanks to our wonderful team, we are now able to safely despatch all online orders within 3-5 working days. Fastway (the courier we use for orders outside of Dublin) are slower than usual due to the high number of parcels they are handling, which is beyond our control.
The impact of Covid-19 on your order:
When you do receive your order, certain items might be missing. That's because more items are out of stock than usual. Where possible and if indicated on your order, a substitution will be offered. After that we will issue a refund for any items we can't substitute.
If you wish to receive your order sooner, we are now offering a "Click & Collect" service from our warehouse in Dublin 7 for orders over €30 (minimum 36 hours required).
We apologise if you don't get exactly what you need at this time, but we'll continue to do our best for you in these difficult times. Unfortunately, Customer Support cannot help with stock availability issues.
Thank you for your patience.
Stay safe and take care everyone,
The Little Italy Team


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NEW YORK (AP) — The patriarchs of the NFL's first families of quarterbacks and coaches are anything but interfering dads. In fact, Archie Manning and Jack Harbaugh are just as influenced by their successful sons as their boys are by them.
That's a special quality they cherish on Father's Day and every day.
"They make us so proud the way they handle things," Manning says of his Super Bowl-winning QB sons Peyton and Eli, and their older brother, Cooper, who was denied a chance at a pro career because of spinal and neck injuries when he was at Ole Miss. "They have good instincts, and it inspires us as parents to make the same good decisions they are (making)."
Adds Harbaugh, the father of Ravens coach John and 49ers coach Jim, and their sister, Joani, who is married to Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean: "I am most pleased at how they all get along. They look forward to being around and with each other, and they make sure all the cousins (Jack and Jackie Harbaugh have 10 grandchildren) know each other and get to spend time together."
Archie and Olivia Manning, and Jack and Jackie Harbaugh, have been in the spotlight a lot in recent years, even as they try to stay out of it. With Peyton setting records and winning a Super Bowl and Eli twice grabbing the Lombardi Trophy, the Mannings are as well-known as any sporting family.
And with both John Harbaugh and younger brother Jim guiding their teams to the Super Bowl last winter — John's Ravens edged Jim's 49ers 34-31 — Jack and Jackie were regulars on the interview circuit in January.
The two dads were in New York this week as part of DirecTV's football for Father's Day campaign. Manning and Harbaugh have become so comfortable with each other that they even finished each other's sentences at times.
While they certainly enjoy the success of their children, the elder Manning and Harbaugh also share in the pain and the disappointments. That's the hard part, even though they try to watch every play of every game involving their sons.
"I've had Sunday Ticket on DirecTV ever since Peyton got into the league," Manning says. "So I am able to watch all of Peyton's and Eli's games, but I suffer through them. A couple of times when I was caught on a flight, I want to know what's the score, but when I land and find out I can sometimes be a little relieved that I didn't go through the tension of watching it."
Archie is a master of the split screen on TV so he can watch both of his sons at the same time if their kickoffs coincide. One time, he also brought a radio into the room to listen to the Saints game — he and Olivia live in New Orleans — but she quickly put an end to that.
"Three games were a little too much," Manning says, with a chuckle.
Harbaugh also watches every one of John's and Jim's games, and he gets the coaches' tapes on Tuesday mornings, then breaks them down. He was, after all, a career coach, and both sons worked for him at various times at Western Michigan or Western Kentucky.
But he doesn't offer any football advice unless asked. Same for Manning.
"I grind for three hours with the tapes, take notes, so if they call and ask something, I am ready," Harbaugh says, also with a laugh. "They don't call often, but I have a tremendous amount of information if they do."
Unquestionably the most difficult games occur when Peyton plays Eli — Peyton is 2-0 in those, and they face off on the second weekend this season at the Meadowlands — and when John and Jim go at it. Obviously, this year's Super Bowl, while a dream matchup for the Harbaugh family (and the media), also brought lots of uncomfortable moments.
Indeed, neither Jack nor Jackie could get too demonstrative at the Superdome during the game because that might be perceived as rooting for one son or the other.
"You care so much about both of them and for both of them, and the thrill of victory or agony of defeat is so profound," Jack Harbaugh says. "So you are trying to control your emotions."
Archie relates a story about how Peyton had to do the same when he was with the Colts and they were playing the Giants. Peyton normally went to sackmaster Dwight Freeney and goaded him with: "Let's rattle that quarterback a little."
"He caught himself before he told Dwight that when they played the Giants," Archie says.
As the youngest of the three brothers, Eli spent the most time at home without his siblings. Like Cooper, he followed Archie to Mississippi, while Peyton went to Tennessee.
It might seem a given that all three would wind up as football players, but Eli says otherwise.
"Obviously I feel our parents did a great job of raising us, supporting us, and not forcing us into sports or into doing anything," he says. "They told us to find something you are passionate about and give it your all, and that has been great advice."
It also meant Peyton and Eli went the same route as Archie — Cooper was a wide receiver, in part because when he was in high school, a young QB named Peyton came along. And both Harbaugh boys followed Jack into coaching, although Jim also was a highly successful college and pro player. As a quarterback, of course.
And all of them are competitive on and off the field, albeit in a far more friendly way when it doesn't involve football.
Asked if he needs to beat Jim to making the phone call to Jack on Father's Day, John Harbaugh says: "There's always a race. Birthdays? There's always a competition of who can get to the phone call first. Believe me, my dad does keep track."
Both Jack Harbaugh and Archie Manning note how difficult it is to get the entire family together for any occasion. Jack and Jackie did get to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary as well as Thanksgiving in Baltimore in 2011, mainly because the 49ers were playing at the Ravens that night.
What seems to impress the patriarchs most is the interaction among their children and their children's children — the Mannings have six grandkids, with Eli and Abby expecting a baby next week.
Archie recalls how Peyton reacted to older brother Cooper's career ending early at Ole Miss.
"Peyton was distraught," Archie says. "He said how life is not fair. I think that changed all of our lives, taught all of us to count your blessings."
Jackie Harbaugh, echoing her husband's comments, stresses how her three children and their families "respect what they all do in their lives."
"It's like John says, the best thing you can do in life is raise somebody up," she says.
To which Jack adds: "The fact is we are always there for each other, on Father's Day or any day. That loves is always there."
AP Sports Writers David Ginsburg and Janie McCauley contributed to this story.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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16! Every young woman deserves to feel like a princess on this landmark birthday. We offer invitations as individualized as your daughter—from pretty and pink to funky and unique. The sweet sixteen invitations will set the stage, especially for a themed party. She'll have so much fun browsing our selection, she may even forget about that whole driver's license thing!
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You can feature pictures of the guest of honor through the years as a nice way to show the beautiful young woman she has turned into. Make this all about her and if her favorite pattern is leopard print, then use this to dictate the decorations throughout the venue.
Invite all of her close friends and family alike to what is sure to be the best part of her life. A sweet 16 party is all about crossing the threshold into the young adult years and so you want to make her feel like a princess in a very mature way. Center the menu around her favorite meal or special dishes that she likes, but keep it simple so as to avoid too much work or spending in the end.
You don't need a lot of activities at a party like this as the guests are likely too old and perhaps "too cool" for games. Do be sure to focus on some great music, particularly the type that she likes. You can hire a DJ or just ask a musically talented friend to make up a great dance mix.
A sweet 16 party is one of the last birthdays of the adolescent years, and so it should be above and beyond what you may have done in the past. From beautiful invitations to decorations fit to her style, this is a party that she and her guests will remember for years from now.
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Archive for April, 2011
NSTIC Identity Ecosystem Marketplace Roles and Concepts
This post is a follow-up to our April 15, 2011 whitepaper and accompanying presentation.
NSTIC envisions a secure "Identity Ecosystem Framework," or "the overarching set of interoperability standards, risk models, privacy and liability policies, requirements and accountability mechanisms that structure the Identity Ecosystem." While the Identity Ecosystem will provide value to any participant which needs to verify a User's identity, the Ecosystem will provide tremendous opportunities to streamline the further commoditization of human identity. Without regulation, the NSTIC Identity Ecosystem will create new markets for businesses which thrive on the commoditization of human identity. I identify this resulting market as the "Identity Ecosystem Marketplace." An Identity Marketplace already exists, and has been admirably illustrated by Luma Partners, LLC and Improve Digital.
The Identity Ecosystem Marketplace includes at least six major roles, as illustrated here. A single organization may fill multiple roles in any given Identity Ecosystem transaction. Some of the definitions here may differ or even conflict with official NSTIC definitions, usually because the official definitions lack clarity within the context of this analysis.
NSTIC as a National ID
Even outrageous statements on controversial topics often contain flecks of truth. This is an attempt to pan through the muddy waters of NSTIC media coverage in relation to NSTIC to as a "National ID," identify the golden flecks and nuggets of truth, and frame the debate on this important topic.
As NSTIC develops, we can expect to hear more soundbytes in the public media invoking fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) around NSTIC as a National ID, Internet Passport, Internet ID, or Online Driver's License. Some of the fear is warranted. Some of it is not. All of the risk and uncertainty should be measured to the fullest extent possible, without freaking out.
Frankly, I do not have a comprehensive definition for a "National ID" right now. Jim Harper, director of Information Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and author of Identity Crisis: How Identification Is Overused and Misunderstood would have a much better answers than me. Notwithstanding, I have a few comments which I hope will add some clarity to the discussion:
Instituting any sort of national identification can have serious and unanticipated consequences, and should be the subject of a robust public policy debate. History, present and past, is replete with examples of extreme abuse of government-issued identification. To give just two examples, identification credentials played key roles in both the Holocaust and Rwandan Genocide. Other, less dramatic forms of abuse exist wherever identity credentials are issued. For example, the U.S. National ID, commonly known as the Social Security Number, is regularly used to commit crimes we now refer to as "Identity Theft."
NSTIC is NOT a National ID
Several commentators have expressed skepticism to downright disdain for NSTIC as a back-door approach to instituting a National ID. NSTIC's defense to these accusations is simple and true, but incomplete: NSTIC is NOT a National ID.
NSTIC itself is not an identification system, much less a National ID. NSTIC is a framework for setting up a structure of interoperable federated identity systems. Each system will be owned and operated by various independent private companies and public institutions, using various technologies with various levels of identity assurance, security, and trust levels. NSTIC is policy, not technology or identification credentials. In fact, I am guilty of a techical faux pas by using the term "NSTIC credential," since no such thing actually exists. But unfortunately I don't have a better shorthand way of saying,
"Voluntary identification credentials issued by an accredited private or government Identity Provider which complies with the 'overarching set of interoperability standards, risk models, privacy and liability policies, requirements, and accountability mechanisms that structure the Identity Ecosystem,' which are implemented using a range of technologies, mediums, and authentication protocols."
So I say "NSTIC credential" instead.
I do not attempt to establish a comprehensive definition for a "National ID" here. But when government-issued identification is used to separate individuals into groups, and centralization decreases the transaction costs associated with classifying human identity, bad things can happen.
I decline to call NSTIC a "National ID." Instead, it is much more prudent to discuss attributes which may be similar or dissimilar to a centralized, federal-government-issued National ID card. I hope that the following table can focus the public discussion on this matter, which is currently lacking articulation.
How NSTIC is Not Like a National ID
How NSTIC Might be Like a National ID
NSTIC credentials are not owned, issued, or managed by the Federal Government, except for IDs issued to government employees.
If adopted by a majority of state governments, NSTIC credentials could become standard in State IDs and drivers licenses. The Federal Government could also embed an NSTIC credential in passports.
Identity Provider Databases are not under government control, except for a few run by the Federal Government for government employees.
Identity and personal information which enters the Identity Ecosystem Marketplace is subject to very little protection against government search and seizure under the 4th Amendment.
NSTIC is voluntary for the private sector and private citizens.
If adopted by State governments, which control a substantial portion of the identification market, NSTIC credentials could become mandatory and displace private sector identity competitors.
NSTIC credentials are not yet required to access government benefits.
Access to electronic government services may one day require an NSTIC credential.
NSTIC credentials are not primarily designed to classify individuals by a status such as race, religion, age or gender.
NSTIC credentials are designed for classifying people by roles and access to resources; the supporting technology could be easily adapted to expand identity profiles compiled by the private sector that may include age, gender, political beliefs, religion, race, socioeconomic status, etc.
Identity and Transaction Information is not stored in a single, centralized government database.
Identity and Transaction Information is stored in thousands of private databases which may be centralized by the private sector, purchased by the government, or accessible to law enforcement with little due process.
An NSTIC credential is designed for online transactions only.
With more of our lives and business conducted online, widespread adoption of the NSTIC framework could mean that an NSTIC credential may become a functional requirement for participating in online life, with real-life consequences.
I agree with the Center for Democracy and Technology's Jim Dempsey who said,
The Obama Administration is not planning to create a government ID for the Internet. In fact, the Administration is proposing just the opposite: to rely on the private sector to develop identities… for online commerce.… [T]he government needs an identity ecosystem or identity infrastructure. It needs it for its own services as well as part of the solution to the broader Cybersecurity problem as well as one of the foundations of eCommerce, but the government cannot create that identity infrastructure. Because if it tried to, it wouldn't be trusted.
I hope this table helps to frame the discussion about NSTIC as a National ID.
Why I Support Jeremy Grant, and Hope NIST Will Too
Those even remotely familiar with Washington politics know that everything is political. A few agencies such as the Census bureau, attempt to stay above the political fray with varying degrees of success. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is arguably the gold standard of apolitical federal agencies. NIST has learned through experience to remain staunchly apolitical by focusing strictly on standards, science, and technology while keeping their noses and fingers well away from policy. As a result, NIST enjoys a good deal of transpartisan respect. NIST zealously (and appropriately) guards its reputation by avoiding policy and politics.
That's why I'm both excited and worried about NIST's role in the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC, pronounced "N-Stick"). On one hand, this emerging framework will benefit substantially from NIST's knowledge and capability in technology standards development; and let's face it, the Department of Commerce was one of the few agencies politically neutral enough to host NSTIC. NIST's NSTIC team includes notable and respected scientists, academics, and technologists. But as our recent Whitepaper on NSTIC's policy hurdles illustrates, NSTIC policy requires as much development as the technology.
That's what makes NIST's role in NSTIC unique: NIST must not only support the development of standards and technology, but must also develop the policy governing the use of the technology. Or, to paraphrase Scott David, NIST must develop both the "tools" and the "rules." In recognition of these challenges, the NSTIC team also includes respected policymakers and thinkers led by Jeremy Grant, himself a universally respected policymaker. NSTIC needs both tools and rules to avoid abuse, and the inclusion of policymakers on the NSTIC team is essential to develop both.
In Washington everything is political, especially policy. Very soon the policy and governance debate will begin, and proverbial political bullets will begin flying from every direction. I believe that Jeremy Grant and his team will work hard to navigate the impending battlefield of industry, advocates and government interests. But even intelligent, dedicated and respected public servants like Jeremy Grant and his team need the support and political cover of their agency, NIST. And when the negotiations get divisive, political and ugly, NIST has a tendency to wash its hands of such riff-raff and retreat back into its comfort zone of apolitical academic and scientific research.
Among the worst imaginable disasters for NSTIC is if NIST doesn't have the stomach for policy development and quietly cajoles the NSTIC team back into NIST's comfort zone of standards and technology, ceding the policy to those with the most firepower.
Then truly, the war will be lost.
Advocates must watch carefully for signs of a NIST retreat from its uncomfortable role as policymaker. Mr. Jeremy Grant, we do not envy your position; you have our support, and we hope that NIST will support you too.
NSTIC's Effect on Privacy
The Department of Commerce released the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC, pronounced "N-Stick"). From a privacy perspective, the 52-page April 15, 2011 Final Draft is a big improvement over the June 25, 2010 Draft.
Also on April 15, 2011, Identity Finder released a 39-page analysis on NSTIC's effect on Privacy. I was the principal author. The report supports the aspirations of NSTIC, but warns that success is far from assured. NSTIC faces multiple unresolved hurdles to implementing privacy and security in a de-centralized, national framework of interoperable identity systems.
If done well, an ideal NSTIC Identity Ecosystem could establish:
- High levels of identity assurance online, increasing trust between Users and service providers
- More secure online transactions
- Innovation and new services
- Improved privacy and anonymity
- Increased convenience for Users and savings for service providers
Through extensive analysis, Identity Finder has found that to successfully implement its visions of privacy, security, and secure identities, NSTIC cannot rely on the private sector alone. Identity technologies may be used for profit, or to preserve privacy, but rarely both. While the private sector is best positioned to develop and maintain the framework of federated identity systems, federal policy must balance individuals' need for privacy and security. In order to be successful, NSTIC must be supported by regulations that:
- Hold all Identity Ecosystem Participants to legal and technical standards which implement Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs) and baseline privacy and security protocols
- Create incentives for businesses to not commoditize human identity
- Compensate for an individual's unequal bargaining power when establishing privacy policies
- Subject Identity Providers to similar requirements to the Fair Credit Reporting Act
- Train individuals on how to properly safeguard their Identity Medium to avoid identity theft
- Ensure that consumers and advocates have a meaningful voice in the development of NSTIC policy
While we're concerned about the unsolved techological hurdles, we are even more concerned about the policy and behavioral vulnerabilities that a widespread identity ecosystem would create. We all have social security cards and it took decades to realize that we shouldn't carry them around in our wallets. Now we will have a much more powerful identity credential, and we are told to carry it in our wallets, phones, laptops, tablets and other computing devices. Although NSTIC aspires to improve privacy, it stops short of recommending regulations to protect privacy. The stakes are high, and if implemented improperly, an unregulated Identity Ecosystem could have a devastating impact on individual privacy.
If NSTIC fails to implement the necessary regulations, the resulting Identity Ecosystem could turn into a free-for-all Identity marketplace, and create the following risks:
- Powerful identity credentials which, if lost or stolen will enable hyper-identity theft
- A false sense of control, privacy, and security among Users
- New ways to covertly collect Users' personal information
- New markets in which to commoditize human identity
- Few consumer protections against abuse or sharing personal information with third parties
- No default legal recourse against participants who abuse personal information without consent
I'll be writing more blog posts in the coming days exploring some of NSTIC's unsolved policy hurdles, and why individuals, businesses, and policy-makers should care.
April 2010 General Conference Themes
After the interest in the Wordle tag clouds I did of the October 2010 General Conference, I decided to analyze themes of the April 2011 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints using the same method. I have posted word clouds here that will help visualize the major themes of each session, and the conference as a whole:
Entire April 2010 General Conference
Read the rest of this entry »
7 Sources of Data Breaches You'll Never Hear About: Your Network Drives
Posted by Titus in Data Breaches on April 5, 2011
This is the seventh post in a series about data breaches you can prevent. We've covered Phones and Personal Computing Devices , Your Browser, Your Inbox, Your Thumb and External Drives, Your Old Computer, and Your Cloud Backup . Finally, we'll discuss Your Network Drives.
Most companies have an internal corporate network with one or more shared network drives. If your company network drive is typical, it's a layered mess of multiple naming conventions, files from employees who haven't been around for years, and old documents with unrecognizable file extensions. Frankly, it's impossible for anyone to know exactly what's there.


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This necktie is in gloriously voluminous manner which will fully satisfy your expectation in working place, party and special event.
- Made of soft and lustrous satin, durable enough for your daily wearing
- Suitable for wearing it to work, to a special occasion with a friend or co-worker
- Width: Approx. 4 inch (10cm) at the widest point of the front part; 1.6 inch (4cm) at the widest point of the back part
- Length: Approx. 59 inches (150cm) full length
- Material: Satin
- Color: Black
Package Includes:
- 1 x necktie
Note: Please be reminded that due to lighting effects and monitor's brightness/contrast settings etc, the color tone of the website's photo and the actual item could be slightly different.
Keywords: Tie, necktie, satin necktie, satin tie


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The runaway New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and USA Today bestseller!
The facts
At least 50 of the 425 terrorists released from Guantánamo have returned to the battlefield to fight our troops.
Barack Obama has called for $1 trillion in tax increases over the next ten years—and dressed them up as tax cuts!
Up to a quarter of all state pension funds in the United States are invested in companies that are helping Iran, Syria, North Korea, or the Sudan—for a total of nearly $200 billion.
Big business, big government, big labor, big lobbyists, and their self-serving agendas are doing nothing to help the ever-increasing number of American people who are losing their homes and their jobs.
In this hard-hitting call to arms, Dick Morris and Eileen McGann reveal the hundreds of ways American taxpayers are routinely fleeced—by our own government, by foreign countries, by Washington lobbying firms, by hedge-fund billionaires, and by the president himself—and offer practical agendas we all can follow to help turn the tide.


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My article about visiting Krakow, Poland, was recently published in Vagabundo Magazine. Click here to read it.
For excellent information about visiting Krakow go to Karolina and Patryk.com
My article about visiting Krakow, Poland, was recently published in Vagabundo Magazine. Click here to read it.
For excellent information about visiting Krakow go to Karolina and Patryk.com
My extended family in Poland really knows how to throw a good party. We were staying with my aunt and uncle in Laka, a small village near the town of Pszczyna in southern Poland. Since we were there, they decided to invite my other aunts and uncles and all of my cousins to a big barbecue party. Many of the cousins didn't see each other regularly despite living only a few hundred yards from each other. I hadn't seen some of my cousins in 13 or 27 years.
It was a Saturday in September and one of the last good days of summer. Around 1pm one of my cousins started a wood fire in the grill. After he had some hot embers, he mounted two giant hams on a large spit. He tended the fire the rest of the day. I started calling him the Grillmaster.
Everyone arrived around 3pm. The hugs and kisses seemed endless. Then it was time to party. The first thing on the agenda was to eat dessert. In Poland, the dessert is often served before anything else. Many kinds of home-made cakes were brought out of the secret basement pantry. Tea and coffee were served.
The polka band started playing during dessert. The band consisted of my cousin's two sons, Martin (17) and Kuba (12). Martin played the accordion and Kuba played the bass drum. The boys played with spirit and energy. Polka songs all sound the same to me. Still, it is happy music and great for getting a party going full steam.
The first wood smoked ham was ready. It was taken off the spit and sliced with a giant carving knife. It tasted delicious. The aunts had prepared potato, rice, and cabbage casserole dishes to go along with tomatoes from the garden. I skipped all of that to concentrate on the ham and fresh bread.
Cases of Zywiec beer appeared. Since I was there, some of them were actually stored in the fridge to be cold for the American guest. The rest were room temperature. Some people mixed beer with a couple of different things. Some people liked their lukewarm beer with a fruity syrup. I tried that and it tasted awful! Others poured half a glass of beer and then dumped Coke into it. I didn't try that because it just looked bad to me.
After dinner it was time to drink vodka shots and some combustible Greek aperitif that tasted like it should be used to scour the barnacles off of a ship's hull. During the drinking I noticed that quite a few of the family had disappeared from the table. I thought that's pretty normal when 40 people are gathered. Some people have to fix more food, make phone calls on their new cell phones, or walk off some of the beer and vodka buzz.
Then the band started up again and a dozen people danced out of the house. They were dressed up in costumes like it was Halloween. We had a Native American chief, Charlie Chaplin, cowboys and cowgirls, women dressed as men, and men dressed like the prostitutes I saw standing by the side of Polish highways.
The costumed people danced with wild abandon. They brought the party to life. They got everyone to leave the food tables and dance like crazy people.
When we were all tired out from dancing, the second ham was ready to eat. We all sat down to a second dinner. This time we also had Polish sausage and some strange substance that was cooked on the grill in tinfoil. I thought I'd try some of that mystery food. It turned out to be blood sausage. I took one bite and that was enough for me. It was nasty stuff.
As the sun set, more beer was consumed, more vodka shots were downed, and the conversations got louder and funnier.
Everyone enjoyed being together again, like in the old days when we were all so much younger. Time passes but the bonds of family remain.
To see a short video of the Polska Polka Party dancing, click here.
From the 17th through the 19th centuries, many upper class British young men traveled a traditional path through Europe called the Grand Tour. The Grand Tour served as an educational rite of passage whereby the traveler learned about culture, history, architecture, and the arts. The traveler became knowledgeable about classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and was usually accompanied by a learned guide.
The itinerary for the British traveler started in Dover, England, crossed the English Channel to France or Belgium, and then continued down through the middle of Europe to Italy. Finishing in either Rome or Naples, the traveler might take a ship back to England. Grand Tours lasted from several months to several years.
Grand Tours are a thing of the past. The days of the landed gentry wandering the capitals of Europe seeking knowledge and life experiences are long gone. Instead, today we have gap years, study abroad programs, hippie trails, and sabbaticals.
I'm fortunate to work for a company that offers an eight week sabbatical after every seven years of service. Add in three weeks of vacation and I don't have to sit in a little grey cube staring at a computer screen for almost three months. My sabbatical is fast approaching. I have looked forward to it for at least a couple of years now. I'm going to make the most of it.
I can't do the Grand Tour. There is not enough time and money. But I can try to do some portions of it. In reverse. I'm starting in Rome, Italy. My plan is to detour first to Greece, Turkey, and Israel. After returning to Rome, my Grand Tour will take me to Milan, Lake Como, the Berner Oberland, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, Prague, London, Bath, and the Cotswolds.
I invite you to follow along.
It's best for everyone concerned if you avoid getting sick while you travel. If you think like I do that it's bad to have to go to the doctor in your home country, it can be infinitely worse having to go to the doctor in a foreign country.
Sure, I know some countries have excellent medical practices and the latest in modern health technology. But some don't.
A long time ago in a Soviet-bloc country far, far away I was visiting my grandparents when it was time for my annual strep throat attack. One day I felt fine and was playing with my cousins. The next day I couldn't swallow and couldn't get out of bed.
Having seen this before, my mother knew I needed to see a doctor. In those days, a shot of penicillin knocked out strep throat pretty fast. Without the drug, it might be a week or more until recovery. I have always hated going to the doctor and hated getting a shot of any kind.
Very few people had cars in Poland back then. You had to be on a waiting list for years before it was your turn to be able to buy a car. My father's cousin Bernard had a car. My father called him and Bernard agreed to take us to the doctor.
We climbed into Bernard's VW Golf and headed to the nearest city called Pszczyna to find the hospital. The hospital was in a very old decrepit building that looked like it had been attacked by both the Germans and the Russians during the war and never repaired. Bullet holes intermixed with large cracks from artillery bombardments filled the walls. Unsmiling guards with machine guns guarded the front door. I might have been hallucinating, or maybe it was the fever.
We waited on hard wooden chairs in a long hallway. The strong smell of antiseptic filled the air. Ugly nurses carried trays with foot long hypodermic needles into private rooms where muffled screaming could be heard. I was terrified.
Finally, it was our turn to see the doctor. We went into the examining room. The doctor was a middle aged woman who looked like Rosa Kleb, the maid assassin and number two of SPECTRE from the classic James Bond film From Russia With Love. I think she even had a stiletto hidden in the shoe, ready to stab me if I got unruly.
She was tired and she was crabby. She had been drinking vodka during her lunch break. Her breath was combustible. I think she had a wart on her nose. She looked at me like I was Hansel and wanted to stick me in the oven. She started to examine me and was asking my father what my symptoms were.
Then she pulled out a giant tongue depressor. It was as big as a canoe paddle. She motioned to me to open my mouth. I tried to open it but my throat hurt. I couldn't get it open wide enough. The doctor yelled at my father. My father yelled at me.
"Open your mouth wider! Come on, what's wrong with you!"
Uh, I'm pretty sure I'm sick. I have strep throat for the seventh year in a row.
I grimaced and stretched to open wider. Dr. Kleb pushed the canoe paddle closer and closer. She got the front edge of it past my lips and kept pushing.
"Say Aaahhhhh" said my father.
"AAAAAhhhh" I garbled as the evil Dr. Kleb pushed the canoe paddle to the back of my throat, engaged my gag reflex, and I promptly threw up all over her socialist worker's utopian doctor's smock.
The doctor yelled at me. She yelled at my father. My father yelled at me. It went around like that for a minute or two. My father thought it was my fault. I couldn't get him to listen and understand that it was her fault. She was incompetent. Who shoves a canoe paddle down the throat of a sick child? They don't do that in America.
I was sent back to the hard wooden chair in the hallway. After a long time an extremely ugly nurse named Brunhilda showed up. She talked with my father.
"There is good news and bad news" said my father. "The good news is that you are going to get a shot of penicillin so you can get better and go back to playing with your cousins. The bad news is that the doctor won't believe us when we tell her that you are not allergic to penicillin. So they have to test you first."
That sounded like all bad news to me.
Brunhilda pulled my pants down and shot me in the left butt cheek with a foot long needle. She shot me in the right butt cheek with another foot long needle. Both sides hurt equally. I was then sent to sit on the hard wooden chair in the hallway to wait until I had a severe allergic reaction and died, or didn't react and would get another shot.
After an eternity sitting on the hard wooden chairs, the evil Dr. Kleb and the extremely ugly Brunhilda returned. Dr. Kleb looked me over and determined that I was fit for yet another shot. Down went the pants, in went the foot long needle into the right butt cheek. Now the right butt cheek hurt twice as much as the left butt cheek.
On the ride home we stopped in the town square for an ice cream cone. It was little consolation for the earlier trauma. I had entered a Polish hospital and lived through the experience. I never wanted to return.
I still get nightmares after watching "From Russia With Love."
Communist Poland, 1984. The old bus was crowded as it lumbered along the pot-holed road between towns on the way to the mountains. We stood in front next to the driver. The seats were filled with old babkas from nearby villages, dressed in worn skirts and drab head scarves. The babkas were peasant grandmothers on their way to town to visit relatives or to attempt to shop. Some coal miners, already blackened with the dirt and soot of previous days, were on their way to work. My cousin Henry and I had left Pszcyna an hour before, and were on our way to Strumien. We were on a mission to find beer.
It was always somebody's birthday there, or close enough to it. With large, extended families living within a stone's throw of each other (and sometimes even next door), there was no shortage of reasons to host a party. My cousins were mostly young adults and I had just graduated from college. I was visiting the old world before I had to join the working world. The party organizing committee had held a meeting, and Henry and I had been given the task of finding beer for the party.
Locating and buying any particular consumer good in a communist country in those days was typically a complex and time-consuming process. If you knew the right somebody, maybe you could make a deal quickly. If you didn't, you might end up standing in line for hours. More often than not, after waiting in line for hours, you might come up empty. We had already checked at several stores in Pszczyna for beer and couldn't find any. Henry suggested going to another town to look.
The stores were a complete joke, by western standards. But of course the Poles weren't laughing. One time we went to Katowice, which is a big city in the industrial heartland of Poland. We went in store after store and the only thing we could find to buy were carved wooden souvenirs. Jewelry boxes, walking sticks, chess sets, decorative plates. These were carved by people from the Tatra Mountains. Anything a tourist might be inclined to buy (and there weren't many tourists then), was produced in the hope of obtaining hard currency. Ordinary consumer goods were almost nonexistent.
However, if you were lucky enough to have US dollars or other western currencies, you could shop in small specialty stores. Before being allowed into the store, you had to show that you had dollars to spend. In these stores, western consumer electronics were available, and there were no lines. When the headphones broke for my Sony Walkman, I bought a replacement pair and a music cassette tape in one of those stores. My cousins were envious of the fact that I could walk into that store and buy something.
Even seemingly simple items were usually unavailable. One day on a previous trip, I was bored.
"Can we play football?" I asked. Soccer to Americans, football to the rest of the world.
"No. We have no ball," my cousin Peter replied.
"Why not? You mean none of you have a football?" I was incredulous. As a typical American guy I think I had at least half a dozen sports balls of various shapes and sizes in the garage back home.
"No. There hasn't been a football for sale around here for years," said Peter. "You can only get a ball if you are a member of the club."
It was explained to me later that the town had a football club for boys, but only a few were allowed or considered good enough to join. In the centrally planned economy, some deskbound bureaucrat clearly had misjudged the demand for balls.
The consumer goods that were sometimes available were incredibly shoddy too. Some people were proud of their color televisions. The problem was, they were available in either red or green. By this I mean this picture! The picture on some TVs was primarily red. The picture on some other TVs was primarily green. I never saw a TV picture even approximating the right color scheme. Forget about watching the Wonderful World of Disney in Living Color.
The shows were mind-numbingly boring too. There was three hour coverage of a military parade, including long-winded speeches by Communist Party functionaries. They had in-depth reporting and interviews with farmers about the harvest and farm equipment manufacturers with their new tractors. The news shows consisted of socialist propaganda delivered unemotionally by comatose news anchors. I think there was only one channel.
Since it was so tough to get ordinary things people living in western capitalist democracies take for granted, we often sent a package to my relatives. My grandmother suffered from headaches, and a bottle of aspirin from America helped ease the pain. The package went by sea and took several weeks to get to Poland. Then the package would be mired in the Polish post office for an unknown and variable amount of time before being delivered.
Sometimes the contents would be pilfered. The postal workers obviously could see that it came from the US, and the outside of the package included a manifest of the contents. Don't want the evil capitalists to sneak subversive literature into the socialist paradise. One time my cousin asked for a pair of Levi jeans, which were very popular at the time. We bought a pair and sent it in a package with a bunch of other stuff. Somebody at the post office stole the Levis and substituted them with an inferior East European pair of pants. A pair of pants were indeed delivered, just not the right ones.
We got to Strumien and finally found some beer to buy. With a case in each of our arms, we caught the next bus back to Pszczyna and joined the party.
The Communists were finally thrown out of power during the history changing year of 1989. Times were tough in the 1990s as the country changed from a rigid planned economy to a free-wheeling market economy. However, in less than 20 years things had tremendously improved. People were optimistic and motivated to work for their future. The new generation shook off the old burdens and surged ahead. Political and economic freedom made all the difference.
A couple of years ago I walked around the medieval main square in Pszczyna. During the Communist era, the only places open were a milk bar, a small book store, and an ice cream stand (lodi!). The buildings were falling apart in disrepair. Now there were new stores, restaurants, and bars everywhere. The buildings were renovated and many were freshly painted. The square was packed with shoppers buying fashionable clothes, toys, and electronics. The TVs in the store windows had all the right colors. Young people lounged in the outdoor cafes smoking, drinking coffee, laughing, and discussing the latest computer games. Tourists stood in line to tour the castle palace called the Museum Zankowe.
And in the middle of the square, a small group of teenaged boys were practicing their juggling tricks and passes to each other with a new football.


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A surrogate mother and delivery of a child costs approximately US$12,000 (Rs 720,000) in India. A mid-level female professional's annual salary is more than twice this amount. Add to it the salary loss a female has post-delivery is she takes a break. Then consider the opportunity loss she suffers for the year she is pregnant and post-delivery, and the long-term impact on her career. The idea of surrogacy appears cost-effective.
If profit and loss analysis is done, surrogacy is the best option for working women. However, not all decisions can be based on money alone. So let us talk about the ethical, emotional, and social dilemmas of surrogacy. Maybe then surrogacy doesn't sound like that great an option.
1) Surrogate Mother's Perspective
In India poor women who have one to two children opt for becoming surrogate mothers. They earn Rs 500,000 to Rs 600,000, which is equivalent to 8-10 years of their salary. The reason they consider this venture is that they can provide for their own children. For them it is good money since they do not have any other viable and legal means to earn a similar amount. It is a way out of extreme poverty.
However, in most of the clinics, surrogate mothers stay at a special accommodation and are provided food, lodging and medical facilities. They are allowed to meet their own family but not stay with them to reduce risks. Hence, the children of the surrogate mother suffer separation and lack of motherly care for 9 months of delivery time. They are forced to make that sacrifice, as their parents are concerned about their future. Is it right for the society and parents to ask children to make this sacrifice for their future?
The next issue is that the surrogate mother goes through a cesarean operation to deliver. She is taking all the delivery risks and health risks to deliver a child of an unknown couple. She carries the child within her womb for nine months and then hands it over to strangers. Doesn't this amount to exploitation due to poverty?
2) Child's Perspective
As such a child has no say in how it is conceived. However, a question needs to be asked to child born from surrogacy – would they have preferred natural birth?
According to medical studies, a child recognizes the voice of the mother from the womb. It also develops physically according to the food provided and psychological stress of the mother. A study showed that the children born to mothers pregnant during the Dutch famine in 1944 ( known as Hunger Winter) developed health problems later in life because they survived on scarcity in the womb. Their bodies developed physically to survive on scarcity. Later on in life when there was abundant food supply their bodies couldn't adjust.
Considering this, the child will develop physically and psychologically according to the stress and health levels of the surrogate mother. It will get attached and look for security in the voice of the surrogate mother. It will want milk from the surrogate mother.
As a society we are concerned when mothers abandon their children. However, in surrogacy, a child faces physical and psychological separation from the surrogate mother on the day it is born. A study shows that children born through surrogacy face higher level of depression and suffer from emotional issues. Hence, the question is – will they face lifetime abandonment issues due to surrogate birth.
3) Adoptive /Genetic Mother's Perspective
A professional women's biggest dilemma is to have a child or not. If she does, she has to sacrifice her career, if she doesn't she has to sacrifice her basic need of feminine fulfillment. While a man is not questioned about his professional competence after becoming a father, a woman has to face doubtful superiors till her child becomes an adult.
The modern day medical science has provided her with an option to go for surrogacy. Nevertheless, will these nine months really have a long-term impact on her profession when she will be questioned every time she asks for leave because her child is sick.
Is it ethical for organizations and society to expect a woman to make a choice between professional success and personal happiness? When professional women talk about guilt of leaving the child home, won't she feel guiltier on not having her child biologically?
Moreover, will she be able to form a strong relationship with her child born from surrogacy? Will the relationship be that of a mother and adopted child? What will be the long-term psychological and emotional impact on the mother when a child withdraws from her or she feels guilty because she didn't physically bear the child.
The situation is different if the mother suffers from health issues and there is risk to her child or herself. Then she is fulfilling a dream through someone because she herself is incapable. However, when she is physically fit, the issue takes different proportions.
4) Biological Father's Perspective
A man's biggest psychological insecurity is that he doesn't know whether the woman is carrying his child or has he been fooled. Before DNA tests, men compensated this insecurity by falling in love, getting married and demanding fidelity from the mother of their child. The social norms were geared to ensure that a man doesn't bring up a child, which is not his.
To this day, men are willing to sacrifice much for the mother of their children. Even when they don't get along, they bestow respect and care to the woman for bearing their child.
Now contrast this with the option that they are bearing a child from a woman whom they don't know and is not their wife. How is the man supposed to psychologically shift gears, care for his wife while ignoring the surrogate mother? He has to change generations of social thinking built into his psychologically.
Moreover, is his wife is healthy enough to bear children, then he has to struggle with the fact that she doesn't want to physically trouble herself by having his child. She is not willing to make any sacrifices for him or his children. In such a situation, will the man feel loved by his wife, and will he be able to continue to love his wife? What will be the long-term impact on the marriage if a woman chooses to use a surrogate mother without the willingness and consent of the father? Moreover, will the man be able to have the same relationship with the child or will he feel like an adoptive father?
5) Social Perspective
Presently, the number of children born through surrogacy is low. However, with the strides in surrogacy, cloning, and medical science, it is possible that in the next couple of decades surrogacy becomes more prevalent.
Then a couple of social behavior and culture issues need to be thought about. If the number of surrogate children increase will social conflict and disturbances occur on lines similar to ethnicity, race and color. Will the surrogate children feel discriminated against and should there be special guidelines formed to deal with the issue?
Will the society suffer from lessor level of social bonding? What will be the effects on altruistic nature of humans because childbirth is considered altruistic – a mother sacrifices and risks her life for it. Will the generation become more detached from their parents and face issues of isolation, abandonment, and depression. Will it suffer identity crises?
Closing Thoughts
To some questions there is no easy answer. Humans may be able to justify surrogacy when the mother suffers health issues. However, it is difficult to justify surrogacy from a monetary perspective when the moral, emotional, and psychological cost is so high for all parties concerned. It is not a onetime cost, it is a lifelong cost that each family member has to pay. So do you think surrogacy is an option for working women? Share your views here.


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Perfect egg yolksMonday, April 18th, 2011
Maybe I have a hangup on soft boiled eggs, but I'm deeply fascinated by how something simple as an egg can be transformed into such a wide range of textures. I'm talking about pure eggs – no other ingredients added. Playing around with temperature and time can result in some very interesting yolk textures – yolks that are neither soft nor hard, but somewhere inbetween. Two examples from the blogosphere are Chad Galliano's 90 min @ 63.8 °C egg yolk sheets and David Barzelay's 17 min @ 70.0 °C egg yolk cylinders (both bloggers giving credit to Ideas in food and Wylie Dufresne respectively).
In 2009 I wrote about my journey towards the perfect soft boiled eggs. Equipped with a formula I knew what I wanted, but it wasn't so easy after all. Since then I've tried to model experimental data from Douglas Baldwin as well as data from my own measurements of egg yolk tempereatures when cooked sous vide (pictures of how I did this at the end of this blog post). I never got around to blog about the results, and now there's no need for it anymore: The egg yolk problem has been solved! And the question that remains is: How we can utilize this in the kitchen?
The break through came this year (more…)